HUNTINGTON BEACH – Julian Wilson almost didn’t make it out of the quarterfinals. Then he was nearly eliminated in the semifinals. But once the Australian made it to the finals of the Nike U.S. Open of Surfing on Sunday, he left no doubt.

Taking on Brazil’s Miguel Pupo in the championship match, Wilson came up with a big score of 9.13 on his first wave, forcing Pupo to play catch-up throughout their 35-minute duel.

Unlike the way Wilson caught and passed his opponents near the end of his previous two rounds of the day, Pupo was not up to the task.

Wilson won the title, and the $100,000 first prize with combined 17.53 points before thousands upon thousands on the sand – as well as the pier – at Surf City.

Pupo, who ousted 11-time world champion Kelly Slater in the semifinals, had a 14.76.

With the final seconds ticking down, knowing he was going to be victorious, Wilson fell backward into the water in celebration. He was then mobbed by cheering fans as he exited.

In his quarterfinals match against John John Florence of Hawaii, there were hardly any good waves. Wilson had ridden only one until late in the 30-minute heat, when he managed to come up with a modest score of 3.77. It was enough to eliminate Florence 8.44-8.17.

Then came the real drama. In the semifinals against Brazil’s Gabriel Medina, who had a perfect single-wave score of 10.00 in his quarterfinals victory over countryman Adriano De Souza, Wilson trailed Medina very late.

Wilson needed an 8.04 to catch Medina. With 40 seconds left, Wilson scored an 8.37 that included a sweet air rotation. Wilson won that one 14.70-14.37.

“Yeah, it was a special event for me,” Wilson said. “I really felt like I had to fight for that final.”

Wilson sort of reminded reporters that even in his Round of 16 heat with Brett Simpson on Saturday, he scored big on his last wave to advance.

“I had three heats in a row – Brett Simpson, John John (Florence) and Gabriel Medina – they were all really hard heats and I felt like I couldn’t get anything going in the first three quarters of the heats,” Wilson said.

“I felt good, I felt comfortable and I felt like I was going to get my opportunities. The waves were slow out there, so it was difficult and it put a lot of pressure on us going into the heats.”

The waves came Wilson’s way just in time.

“Someone was looking out for me and sent me the waves and I stayed on my board and got the scores,” he said.

Pupo was not too down in the post-surf news conference. He was smiling, even in defeat.

Perhaps that’s because he was able to eliminate the legendary Slater a round earlier.

Although the waves at times Sunday were larger than they had been all week, they were still very inconsistent and surfers would sit out there for several minutes without one coming through. That really worked against Slater, who had virtually no ridable waves the last seven minutes of that heat.

“It was just a little bit of a slow finish,” Slater said. “But we both had the same opportunities out there, and that’s the way it goes. I needed that one wave out there at the end.”

Of course, as soon as the next heat started, the waves reared their irregular heads.

“He’s the best surfer in the world,” Pupo said minutes after his win over Slater. Later, he said, “Surfing with Kelly was an amazing moment for me.”

Pupo pocketed $20,000.

Slater defeated Dane Reynolds of Ventura in the quarterfinals.

Slater won by a score of 15.00 to Reynolds’ 9.84. Slater’s best single-wave score was an 8.0 off an air reverse.

Reynolds’ problem was he attempted a couple of air reverses, but couldn’t stick them when he came back down.

On the women’s side, 17-year-old Lakey Peterson of Montecito defeated Carissa Moore of Hawaii in the championship match. Peterson and Moore didn’t have much to work with because the waves were hiding. Peterson had a combined score of 10.90, Moore an 8.64.

Once Peterson knew the victory and $15,000 was hers, she threw her arms in the air in jubilation.

It was Peterson’s week. In Friday’s quarterfinals win over Sage Erickson, Peterson had a total score of 19.76 that included single-wave scores of 9.83 and 9.93.

On Sunday, she had a perfect 10.00 on a wave during her semifinals win over Malia Manuel of Hawaii and had a combined score of 18.77.

It was all about keeping her mind on the task at hand.

“Honestly, it’s focus and sticking with the game plan,” Peterson said. “Because for me, I’m a rookie on tour, this is my first year. I’m 17 and I haven’t been surfing that long and so this whole year it’s been a lot of different learning experiences for me.

“So coming into this last event I feel like I’ve learned so much and my whole thing coming in was staying calm and sticking to my game plan.”

Peterson said part of that plan was to take a page out of Slater’s book, which stresses no panicking when a big score is needed.

Not that Slater panicked against Pupo. He just didn’t have any waves.

Wilson and Peterson got enough of them to come away with championships.